Footwear and insole therefor.



F. M. BLANOHARD & B. P. CHAMBERLIN, JE- (FOOTWEAB. AND INSOLE THEREFOR.APPLIQATION FILED JULY 19, 1912.

2 Patented July 22, 1913.

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FRED ML BLANGHARD, OF NEWTONVILLE, A ND BENJAMIN F. CHAMBERLIN, JR., OFDO'RCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOOTWEAR-AN D INSOLE THEREEOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July as, 19113.

Application filed July 19, 1912. Serial No. 210,518.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that .we, FRED M..BLANCHARD and BENJAMIN F; CHAMBERLINQ Jr.,citizens of the United States, thev former residing at Newtonville, inthe county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, and the latterresiding at Dorchester, in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFootwear and Insoles Therefor; and we do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as willenable. others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

Our invention relates to improvements in washable footwear and instiffening insoles therefor, and it especially relates to sandals havingretaining straps attached; to inner and outer soles of a suitablewashable fabric which are secured together to provide a pocket forreceiving a removable stiffening insole.

To these ends the invention consists in thenovel details of constructionand combinations. of parts more fully hereinafter disclosed andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification in which like numerals designate like :parts in all theviews :Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sandal, illustrating oneembodiment of our invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sec tion onthe line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the stiffeninginsole employed in the sandal illustrated in'Figs. 1 and 2, and providedwith recesses for receiving the ends of the retaining straps; Fig. 4 isa side elevation ofthe recessed insole shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a sideelevation of a modified form of insole, comprising upper and lowerlayers of cork composition or similar material secured to the respectivefaces of an intermediate stiffening layer of fiber board, or othersuitable material, and terminating at a distance from the heel end ofthe inner sole; and Fig. 6 is a View partly in section, more plainlyshowing the construction illustrated in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 indicate, respectively, outer andinner soles of cloth, felt or other suitable washable fabric, securedtogether along their inturned edges suitable manner to provide a pocket,but having their heel portions unsecured to constitute free flaps. Amember-'4 of suitable fabric, is secured to theheel portion of saidouter. sole 1 and extends over the heel portion of the inner sole 2 toprovide a heel pocket-. The free heel flap 5 of said inner ,solenormally extends into the pocket thus formed; and said member 4 thuscooperates with said outer and inner soles to provide an open-mouthpocket for receiving the re movable, insole, 6. .It. will be clear thatby withdrawing. the flap 5 of the inner sole from the heel pocket thestiffening insole c,an,be readily removed and replaced, and the flap 5then reinserted beneath the member Lover theheel portion of thestiffening insole. ,Straps 7 for retaining the sandal in. place onthefoot of the wearer are inserted between said outer and inner soles l and2, and firmly secured to the latter, .asby the stitching 3; thestiffening insole 6 being, provided with recesses 8 for receiving theextreme sewed ends of said retaining strap 7,. as shown, in order toobviate any unevenness and to promote the comfort ,of the wearer. Thisalso provides a highly advantageous and strong construction, by -Which.all strains on the retaining straps in .nse are resisted by both theinner and outer soles, and such strains are further eflicientlydistributed over a large portion of the fabric 'of both of said soles;thereby preventing stretching and tearing of the same by a localizationof strains thereon.

- clear that our invention provides an improved washable sandal, inwhich the fabric portions are efficiently protected against distort-ingand tearing strains, and in which the stiffening insole can be readilyremoved to permit washing of the fabric portions.

\Ve have illustrated a preferred form of stiffening insole comprisinglayers 9 of cork or other suitable composition, cemented or otherwisesecured to outer layers 10 of cloth and secured, as by stitching 11, toan intermediate layer 12 of felt, fiber board, or other suitablestiffening material.

Our improved insole is capable of advantageous use with other forms offootwear, and may be modified in various ways, such as by omitting theouter cloth layers, or by omitting the outer cloth and cork composi-From the above description, it will be tion layers on one side of thestiffening layer.

Fig. 5 illustrates a modified form of stiffening insole provided with anintermediate stiffening layer 13 of any suitable material whichterminates at a distance from the heel of the insole, as for example, atthe point 25; thereby providing a relatively flexible heel portion 14 ofreduced thickness, which facilitates the withdrawal and insertion ofsaid insole in the sandal, and compensates for the thickness of theinner-sole flap 5.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details ofconstruction and the arrangement of parts without departing from thespirit of our invention, and therefore we do not wish to be limited tothe above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What we claim is z- 1. A sandal provided wi.th inner and outer soles ofareadily washable fabric having a pocket therebetween adapted to receivea removable stiffening insole; and sandal retaining straps of washablematerial secured at opposite ends to said inner and outer soles, andprojecting into said pocket, whereby the strains on said straps whensaid insole is in place will be distributed over a large portion of saidouter sole.

- 2. A sandal provided with inner and outer soles of washable fabrichaving a pocket between them; a removable stiffening insole in saidpocket andresting on said outer sole; and crossed sandal-retainingstraps secured at opposite ends to said soles and secured between saidends to each other whereby such stiffening insole will act toefficiently distribute the strains of said straps over a large.portionof said outer sole.

,3. A sandal formed of 'a flexible washable fabric having retainingstraps with inwardly projecting ends and a removable stiffening insoleprovided with recesses for ,receiving said ends.

4. A sandal provided with inner and outer soles having a pockettherebetween; sandal-retaining straps the ends of which are secured toopposite sides of said outer sole, and a removable stiffening insole insaid pocket provided with recesses for receiving the ends of saidstraps.

5. A sandal provided with inner and outer soles secured together alongtheir edge portions to provide a pocket and having an unsecured heelportion forming free flaps; a

member secured to the heel portion of said outer sole to provide aheelpocket extending over the flap of said inner sole, and aremo'vablestiffening insole in said pocket provided with a non-stiffening heelportion to compensate for the over lying flap of said inner sole. e

6. A sandal provided with inner and outersoles secured together alongtheir main edge portions to provide a pocket and having unsecured heelportions forming free flaps; a member secured to the heel portion ofsaid outer sole to provide a heel pocket extending over the flap of saidinner sole; and a removable stiffening insole insaid pocket and having areduced thickness at the portion confined beneath the double.

thickness of said heel-pocket member and inner sole flap.

- 7 A removable insole for washable sandais having retaining straps anda pocket to receive said insole, comprising a stiffening insole memberprovided with notches in' its edges to accommodate the inwardlyextending ends of the said straps.

In testimony whereof, we aiiix our signa- 7,

tures, in presence of two witnesses.

- FRED M. BLAHGHARD.

BENJAMIN F- CHAMBERLIN, JR.. Witnesses:

WENDELL H. MARDEN, G'. A. JARY.

